Strictly speaking it was not a civil war, A civil war is a war between two factions contending for control of the same government. The House of Lancaster vs. The House of York was a civil war. About a century latter Cromwell vs. the Roylists was a civil war.

Therefore the late unpleasntnes, if one is fussy about definations was not a civil war. Having said that, Shelby Foote convinced me, Probably an interview on C-SPAN, but maybe something he wrote, that Civil War is the least offensive, most neutral name we can use. All other appelations have a bias in one direction or the other.

Please excuse any spelling errors, can't figure out how to use the spell checker on this board, but Grant Could'nt spell either.